The World Is Not Equal

As a reader who loves escape novels, I dare say this: the true flower of any story is the protagonist’s growth. The joy of walking alongside them, step by step, as they improve. How thrilling it is to watch a protagonist overcome any hardship, grow stronger, and ultimately prevail. It could be called vicarious satisfaction. After all, such steady, consistent growth is impossible in reality. Tiny triggers, my own mistakes, someone else’s mistakes, another person’s malice, the limits of my own talent—too many factors crush us under the name of “the wall of reality.” Yet the protagonist in a novel somehow overcomes it all and moves forward. That sense of anticipation was incredibly satisfying.

In my case, someone had made the “mistake” of drinking and driving, leaving me unable to use my legs for the rest of my life. That was why my daily routine had become holing up in my room and reading novels on my phone. After reading for a while, I developed preferences, and favorite authors. The novel I was following now was the third work by one of my absolute favorite writers.

“Whoa……”

This author really knows how to write a growth story. In the scene where the protagonist defeated the final boss right before the ending, I couldn’t hold back the sigh that escaped me. Savoring the satisfaction, I opened the comment section—only to find that, contrary to my expectations, long critical ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠comments dominated the top with overwhelming upvotes.

“Ah……”

It had been like this for several days now. Once the story reached the final arc, an overwhelmingly powerful enemy had appeared, and that was when complaints about power inflation began to pile up. The criticism was that growth stories inevitably cause power inflation in the latter half because the protagonist has to keep getting stronger. I considered it unavoidable, but apparently others didn’t. Feeling like the author might be hurt by it, I wrote a comment.

I had no intention of meticulously refuting every critical comment. That would only make the comment section messy. Satisfied with that much, I was about to close the novel app when a reply notification rang. A comment had been left directly beneath mine. And it was from the author himself.

??????????

My mind was filled with nothing but question marks. At that moment, my vision went black. When I opened my eyes, I was in a new world.

I just left an encouraging comment, though?

The moment I opened my eyes, a semi-transparent window floated in the air.

Growth Helper…? No, more importantly—had I been possessed?

Leon blinked blankly. From the moment he opened his eyes until he finished reading the entire semi-transparent window, he hadn’t moved a single inch. It was a habit of his. After losing the ability to move his legs, his movements had become extremely passive. Lying down as usual to organize his thoughts, he suddenly realized something new, as if someone had slapped the back of his head.

‘Can I move?’

Leon immediately put strength into his legs.

“Whoa, damn…!”

They moved. He even used both legs to push himself up. His two legs stood tall on the blanket spread across the floor. He immediately dropped to his knees again.

“Thank you, Author…!”

The fact that he had been possessed didn’t matter. The simple truth that he could walk properly on two legs left him overwhelmed with emotion. After offering his prayer and opening his eyes, he saw a thick book titled Basic Mana Theory, another titled Basic Earth Attribute Magic, and a black orb placed neatly side by side.

Leon swallowed all the questions that surged up in this sudden new environment.

‘I can figure it out slowly.’

From the moment his legs moved, Leon’s mind had become crystal clear. He approached the books and the orb. The thick book had its title clearly written as a mana theory book, so he could guess what it was. What piqued his curiosity more was the black orb. On its pitch-black surface, the number ‘0’ was written in white letters.

‘What is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this…?’

Leon picked it up, turned it over in his hands, then set it down again. There was nothing he could learn just by looking. He picked up the book instead. First, Basic Mana Theory.

‘Is this a world where magic exists?’

Leon looked around. Wooden floors, an old blanket spread on top, sparse furniture in one corner of the room, and a ceiling without so much as a light bulb.

‘A medieval setting?’

The author had said in the comment that he would become the protagonist of the next novel, so even if it wasn’t one of the novels Leon knew, it still meant this was the world inside a novel. A medieval world where magic existed. It had to be fantasy. He summoned the Growth Helper again and examined only the quest window.

When he clicked on the part that said to select a reward, a new window appeared.

Seeing the reward list, he became certain. This was a fantasy world where magic existed. Leon did not choose a reward hastily and closed the helper window. Since they had given him Basic Mana Theory and Basic Earth Magic from the start, it seemed they wanted him to learn magic first. It wouldn’t be too late to select his reward after reading the books and figuring out what would help him the most in learning magic.

A week passed. During that time, while skimming through Basic Mana Theory, Leon focused on understanding his situation. The place where he had opened his eyes was an orphanage. It was a modestly run orphanage managed by a kind-looking director, and six children including Leon lived there. Leon’s age was younger than he had expected. When one of the twelve-year-old children treated him as a friend, he realized he was also twelve.

“……?”

When Leon stared at her, a puzzled expression appeared on the girl’s face. She was Leon’s friend. Every time he saw her, it felt unbelievable. His original age had been twenty-six. But he would have to adapt to this too…….

“Sigh……”

“……?”

The girl sitting beside Leon looked even more confused. When she tilted her head, her short gray hair swayed.

“Lia.”

“Yeah?”

“Shall we head back?”

“……Yeah.”

Seeing her nod, Leon turned around. He had felt a momentary sense of reluctance, but Lia was the most comfortable person for him. The other kids were too noisy, and their baseline mood was so high that he couldn’t adapt. Just exchanging a few words left him feeling drained. On the other hand, Lia had a quiet, static personality, so she was relatively easy to deal with. It was also easier to casually ask her questions while pretending not to know things. Perhaps because Leon was her only friend, she never pushed him away. That was why lately they would sometimes take short walks together right before going to sleep.

Once back in the room, Leon waited until the other children sharing the room had fallen asleep, then summoned the helper.

Over the past week, Leon had made up his mind. While thoroughly reading Basic Mana Theory, he had gained a rough understanding of magic in this world. The most important thing in learning magic could be summarized in one word: ‘talent.’ Mana quality and attribute constitution. These two were the most crucial for becoming a mage, and among them, attribute constitution was the most important. Attribute constitution was a talent that was extremely important for awakening mana and quickly raising one’s realm.

The single attribute constitution Leon currently possessed was the talent of an ordinary person. It was said that everyone had an affinity for at least one attribute. Leon’s talent fell into that “everyone” category. The book repeatedly emphasized that awakening mana through self-study with such ordinary talent was nearly impossible. After much thought, he decided to receive the attribute constitution as his first reward. He had no idea what kind of quest would appear, but still.

Leon clicked on Attribute Constitution. The quest window changed.

Study Basic Mana Theory? Could the reward be changed whenever he wanted? Various questions arose. The number next to “study” also bothered him. Unable to contain his curiosity, Leon secretly lit a candle and read Basic Mana Theory. Honestly, he had skimmed through it once, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he hadn’t memorized all the content. There was simply too much material. It was difficult and vast. But it was also undeniably interesting. Had he ever imagined he would have the chance to seriously learn magic like this? Even though he had already seen the content once, he didn’t lose focus and read the book for an entire hour. By the time the candle had completely burned down, Leon set the book aside and opened the quest window.

It really was based on time. “Mmm… Leon, what are you doing instead of sleeping?” The boy who had gone to bed first rubbed his eyes and asked. Leon was startled and quickly blew out the candle.

“It’s nothing.”

Hiding the book under his pillow, Leon closed his eyes. His heart was pounding with anticipation.

***

Leon recalled the time when he had lived as Park Hyunsoo, a twenty-six-year-old, before his possession. Back then, he had been the type to devour every growth story down to the last grain of rice, but there had been one thing that always bothered him. Whenever the protagonist of a growth story stopped growing and wasted time on pointless things, he would frown inwardly.

‘Shouldn’t you be focusing right now? This is the period where you could get stronger just by breathing. You’re wasting time at a moment like this? Shouldn’t you be locking yourself in your room, chewing on wall-breaking pills, and devoting yourself entirely to growth?’ He never actually left such comments, but he felt the dissatisfaction deep inside.

What that meant was that Leon currently did not have the time to focus solely on growth. Hiding the fact that he was learning magic inside the orphanage, where group activities took up most of the daily schedule, it was extremely difficult to secure pure study time. In two days, he had only managed to accumulate five hours. That meant only two hours of study per day. Moreover, simply opening the book and skimming the text just to fill time did not count toward the quest progress.

‘I need to escape.’

That was the conclusion Leon reached. It wasn’t that he was being treated unfairly, and although it wasn’t luxurious, the orphanage provided meals on time and could be considered a perfectly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠decent place. However, it did not align with his goals.

‘Let’s find some quiet place and live in seclusion.’

To be honest, after seeing the quest window, Leon had become obsessed. His mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of completing the quest time. He put his plan into action that very night. Leon waited until all the children were asleep, then packed a few clothes. He crept out of the room as quietly as possible so that the light-sleeping children wouldn’t notice. Relying on the moonlight coming through the windows, he made his way down the hallway. Only after stepping outside the door did he let out a deep sigh.

“Take care, everyone. Thank you.”

After finishing his solitary farewell and turning around, it happened.

“Where are you going?”

“Huk.”

At the voice coming from beside him, Leon’s heart sank. When he hurriedly turned his head, the person who entered his sight was Lia. Her yellow eyes were quietly shining under the moonlight.